13 Most Expensive ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Cards in 2022
With so many expensive Magic: The Gathering cards out there, let’s check out the current A-Listers.
Magic: The Gathering has been around for a very long time, and still going strong. And with any popular collectible hobby, some items skyrocket in rarity, and ergo, in worth. So long as there is interest in the game, these 13 cards will remain elusive to all but the most avid collectors. And also people who just got lucky in 6th grade.
Yes, that’s really me with my Chaos Orb and Mox Sapphire. Please don’t rob me.
For this article, we will be grouping some similar cards together. It’s not very interesting if 80% of the list is just every Mox and Dual Land. So, they’ll be lumped together so other cards will have a chance to shine.
1. Black Lotus – $150,000
The Black Lotus is a legend. It’s almost so obvious it’s worth skipping mentioning. But skipping Black Lotus would be a crime when compiling a list of most expensive Magic: the Gathering cards. Every year or so, news breaks out of someone cracking a new Black Lotus and the whole MTG world gets buzzing.
Like most of these cards, at the time they were released they weren’t actually that game breaking. They were good, sure. But when an extra 3 mana only meant you could get your Force of Nature ($3,500) out on turn 4 instead of turn 6, that really wasn’t that big of a deal. Still dies to Dark Banishing ($0.25).
2. The Moxes – $17,400 – 30,000
The Moxes are our first grouped set. Each of them was basically just a bonus land, as a 0 cost artifact. But as decks became more aggressive, the value of the Moxes started to skyrocket. Nowadays, there are wisps of the remnants of the Moxes in cards like Mox Diamond ($800) or Chrome Mox ($90).
- Mox Sapphire – $30,000
- Mox Jet – $22,000
- Mox Emerald – $21,000
- Mox Pearl – $21,000
- Mox Ruby – $17,400
3. Ancestral Recall – $18,000
Contrary to what I said before about most of the cards weren’t busted upon release, it’s absolutely wild to imagine how Ancestral Recall found a place among its family of similar cards. Each color had a card which did 3 of something. Black had Dark Ritual ($440) for 3 black mana, red had Lightning Bolt ($960) for 3 damage, white had Healing Salve ($30) for 3 life, green had Giant Growth ($265) for +3/+3. I can understand how designers of a new genre of game wouldn’t fully grasp the power of card advantage, but still Ancestral Recall has always been outrageously good.
4. Time Twister – $16,800
Yet another card that seems fair at first glance, if you don’t have a very solid understanding of the game mechanics behind it. Timetwister can offer huge card advantage to the player who knows it is coming, and even more so if they have a combo deck that requires a certain card to pop off. Timetwister not only will help you fish for what you need, but also can force your opponent to discard some things they might consider vital. Overall, a very strong card if used properly.
5. Dual Lands – $6,500 – $25,000
I also have a Tundra, but it would be uncouth for me to keep bragging my collection. So, I won’t.
- Underground Sea – $25,000
- Tundra – $20,000
- Tropical Island – $13,600
- Bayou – $9,300
- Taiga – $8,000
- Plateau – $7,500
- Scrublands – $7,000
- Savannah – $6,500
- Badlands – $5,920
Like the Moxes, the Dual Lands (so called for being 2 basic land types combined) are hugely powerful now. Upon their release, multicolor decks weren’t nearly as common, and multicolored cards wouldn’t even show up until The Legends set, which started to give dual lands a much more clear purpose. Nowadays, monocolor decks are the minority, so any sort of mana fixing is of the highest importance and Dual Lands are undeniably the best way to do that.
6. Chaos Orb – $17,600
If you’re part of the Magic: The Gathering hobby, you know the story about Chaos Orb. About how a player ripped their Chaos Orb and let the scraps fall like rain upon their opponent’s board. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence this ever happened.
via Ask Wizards
But it did give us Chaos Confetti ($0.99), so that’s fun.
7. Time Walk – $19,000
Time Walk is the most obviously strongest card on this list. For 2 mana, a player gets to go again. But, like with many others on this list, that still wasn’t that amazing back then. An extra turn has and always will be powerful. But since the overall power level of the game was so much lower then, a single turn rarely affected the game state as much as it would now. But now, pair it with Isochron Scepter ($18) and go infinite on turn 3. Not bad.
8. Wheel of Fortune – $14,000
Something, something. Pat Sajak.
Wheel of Fortune is basically just a more different Timetwister, so not much else to say on this one.
9. Shivan Dragon – $8,800
The first poster child for Magic: The Gathering cards. The Shivan Dragon was the ultimate creature for a very long time. It was so oppressive, many games were scooped as soon as it hit the field. Nowadays, its absolute garbage. It’s real shame. The price is only so high for the collector’s novelty, rather than the strength of the card. If you’re looking for a powerful red dragon, you still can’t go wrong with Goldspan Dragon ($55).
10. Birds of Paradise – $7,200
If this list has shown us anything, it’s that mana ramp is king. The moxes, dual lands, and Birds all serve the same purpose, and they do it so well. Of them, Birds is the weakest, due it its ability to die, which is sad.
11. Braingeyser – $6,300
If mana ramp is king, then card advantage is a different, but equally powerful, queen. They work so well in tandem that good decks need a touch of both to perform their best. And aside from Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser is the most mana efficient way to draw a bunch of cards at once.
12. Time Vault – $6,200
Of all the cards on this list, Time vault is the only one that was actively bad upon release. Basically, you’d skip a turn in order to take an extra turn at some later point. Ultimately netting you nothing. But nowadays with cards like Voltaic Key ($2), Time Vault is incredibly busted. Time Vault is the opposite of Shivan Dragon, if you think about it.
13. Jayemdae Tome – $5,120
Last and definitely least is Jayemdae Tome. This is another card that’s valued as a collector’s item, not for the power of the card. More recent releases of Jayemdae Tome ($0.20) tend to sell for a lot less. Also, did you also think it was Jayemdae’s Tome? It’s not. There’s no possessive. Talk about Mandela Effect.
And there you have it! The top 13 most expensive Magic: The Gathering cards. There’s a lot of different sources and determining anythins value is a lesson in capitalism I’m not willing to dive into. So take all of these card values with a Rain of Salt ($0.25).
